hooks and rocks

My facebook events and messages didn't let me forget (thank goodness.. remember this?) that I had a "Hooks and Rocks" open house today, featuring a few of my friends and their designs. I have been anxious to remember this one since I missed their last one.

I bead. Yes. But when I saw Rachel's beautiful designs, I stopped. Lame, I know. There was no competing! .. I've started up again just recently.. thanks to a certain friend and her fun fun request!

Can you blame me for being awestruck?

 So lovely. There are so many choices of stone, pearls, metal, or all three together! Here's a pic of her info if you have inquiries:

Also there were keychains, buttons, bows, flowers, and bibs done by my friend Lindsay who has started LP Designs. Her email is LP.Designs@yahoo.com if you're interested in these fun things. I snatched up a keychain.

(It can fit on my wrist while I juggle bags and my funny little Montster who broke my favorite keychain when he didn't want to let go at the same time I didn't want to let go. Oops.)

And just so I could spend a little more, dang it, they had to have Scentsy there. Talk about holiday spirit in the form of yummy smelling wisps! So easy to burn and far better than candles.. they smell like the real thing!

hat model

Yesterday I got to sit for a friend who had just finished knitting a certain hat for a certain someone.

Unfortunately, she doesn't sell her things - though, I think if she did, there would be no end to orders and requests!

Anyway.. I get to add this to my new portfolio of modeling.. my daughter will be so proud. ha!

See more, here.

Thanks, Julie! 

she she she

Saying "she" out loud this morning after my appointment really felt strange on my lips. It reminded me of how weird it was to hear myself using the word "husband" right after Mark and I got married.

Well! Let me introduce you to her. Here she is:

As we waited in line to be checked in at Radiology this morning, I asked Mark what he thought, "I'm going to say... girl." Then he asked me. After nearly a full minute, I said, "Girl."

I guess I might have some maternal instinct after all! Every minute we're more and more excited over this sweet little thing. Wonder how different she'll be than Mont? ... AH!

anticipation

I can hardly stand it!

In less than 12 hours, Mark and I will know what (boy or girl) we are going to be having in a another few short months. At least, if all goes as planned, we should know.

The excitement is so overwhelming this time. I was excited to find out what I was having when I was pregnant with Mont, but I guess I've forgotten how exciting it can be. It's similar to the feeling of right before walking in to see Christmas morning all laid out, glistening and glowing before your very eyes... the anticipation is what woke me up every Christmas morning at 3:00 am! I can't stand it!!

For Mont, I keep thinking how fun it would be to have a little brother around for him to teach how to crawl like Mowgli and the elephants: legs straight and speed set to fast. I think of buying two little baseball gloves and digging out my old baseballs (actually, they're already out on Mont's shelves) and letting them go out in the yard to play catch, or dig in the dirt for worms to go fishing with at "Grandpa's Fishing Pond."

... but if I have a girl... oh so fun too! When my thoughts settle on a daughter, I think about when she's a little older and I see us in the kitchen, me showing her my tricks, how to sew like my mother patiently did, coming up with more traditions for our family, because I'm just sure she'd be creative, and also someone to wrestle for the girl team!  - rest assured, she'd be getting a baseball glove too.

10.33 hours and counting!

the boy who is thankful

... For his dad who lets him 'drive' when we're in front of our house. He thinks the blinker and buttons on the steering wheel are pure magic.

And along the lines of thankfulness, I truly feel it - that feeling of happiness and pure gratitude that makes you well up with tears and your nose tingle.

Happy Thanksgiving

lazy busy

 While some things have been keeping me busy, lots of projects around here.. sewing, painting and making growth chart boards for auctions, etc., other things have been seeing my lazy side..

photography - I haven't taken pictures (except this morning) in a very long, long time. I miss it!
blogging - I miss this too.
and my poor journal.. look! it even had dust on it this morning:

Mont has been doing some pretty funny things that I have been storing in my memory now for weeks, and I am determined to write them down today. All apart of being full of thanks. Tomorrow I'm excited to be full on turkey, stuffings, potatoes, and pies.

For today, I write.

bippity boppity boo - quilt

It's finished!! Well... except for the tag, and I need to tack down the skirts and shirts, but that's it. So I'm counting it as done. I "finished" it a while ago, but for the life of me, I haven't wanted to sew for weeks and weeks, about 14 to be exact. But now that I'm feeling a bit more energetic at 17 weeks (not at 100% yet), I've sewed up the tag, and now it just needs to be hand sewn on. 

Here are some more details I like: 

 And here's the last of the 'wordage': 

Flanked by sparkly pumpkins: 

OH! Can't forget the witches' eyes:

And here is the one my mom did when she came back in June, the nose throws off the look a bit: 

And finally, the tag that has yet to be written on and sewn down. I had huge plans for the tag, including an entire pumpkin patch of mix-and-matched sizes and colors, candy littering the ground with a toppled over treat bag, and so forth. But with how I've been feeling, this will do. So I love it: 

Happy Halloween! 

getting my granny on

Every 4th Sunday of the month, a few friends of ours get together to swap treats! It's the best idea in the world and I highly recommend it.

October is our month, and we're getting ready to make some deeeelicious caramel-covered apples. I'm really getting excited for them, since I haven't made them since the Halloween 2 years ago! It's been far too long.

So let me give a big hello to lovely, tart and green, Granny Smith!

way up high

Mont's back side (again) in the Reeder's high chair on our trip to Utah. This was how we held him in the chair so he wouldn't squirm out. Nice! While traveling, this kid was full of some fun surprises.

He slept in my arms (never-ever happens) on the plane rides.
He said "cheese" and someone other than myself heard him! ... though he still doesn't do it on command.
He was a professional waver to all friendly ladies.

a little lonely

He won't be lonely for much longer!

There's another little Reeder coming in April- can I hope for March? ha

I didn't know quite how to introduce this news to my blog. We are so excited, and we were so shocked it happened so quickly this time around. I figure Mont just must have pulled some strings before he made his debut, and had this little one lined up for a quick arrival after his own.

Any guesses on girl or boy? Things have been pretty similar to being pregnant with Mont, though this time around chocolate still tastes good, and I'm not craving candy. More salt this time, please! Oh, there goes my blood pressure..

the glow

This was just two weeks ago! ... with snow falling yesterday before church, I thought I better put these up before ALL the leaves are gone and the snow finally decides to stick around.

Do you have 'the glow' yet? My favorite parts of the day are taking Mont outside and just breathing deep; the yummy scent of fall is so strong here. OH, I just love it!

little sassafras

best pals

Mont has a best buddy in this house just his size. 

Actually, half his size, but Buckwheat's pretty fluffy.. 

a key story

What a headache keys give us! Always going missing when you need them the most. Well.. never for me. Just Mark. He always misplaces his phone, wallet, or keys. But not me. I'm the key master.

Until today, that is!

Lately I have been leaving my keys in a very easy place so I can keep my hands free while hauling Mont out to the car with my bags and paraphernalia. The only thing is... my car must always be unlocked to get to the keys (know where I keep them yet?) I must be getting too used to this, because when I pulled into my parking spot at the church today, I slipped them back into the key spot, and grabbed everything (thankfully, including Mont), locked the doors by hand (which I never do, to ensure that I don't do what is about to happen), accept some shirts from a friend, put them on my passenger seat, then she shuts the door. The ghost of the thought nearly surfaces regarding the whereabouts of my keys, but I brush it off thinking I always have my keys..


As soon as I get inside the church, the thought finally pushes itself to front and center, so I dig through my bag and proclaim, "my keys are in my car!!"

My friend tells me that the cell phone trick works, so Mark tries it from his work, holding the key up to his phone and me standing with my phone to the lock.... no luck! Inside the building again, a friend says her contractor-husband could easily break in, which I pass on to Mark, then I say, "all these options are sounding costly.."

I ask for a ride home... I don't know why I thought my house would be unlocked.. so as I realize this, a friend says she can jimmy the knob lock open with a credit card. She asks, "it's not the deadbolt, right?" "Right. It's only the handle that I lock."

We all hop into Jodi's car, and we start the drive to my fortress. What was I thinking?? It's only the deadbolt that I lock to avoid locking myself out! We don't use the knob lock because that's so easy to overlook as you shut the door behind you on your way out; the deadbolt on the other hand, you have to do from the inside. I'm such a genius. My fortress doesn't even need a moat to keep me out.

We parade around the house and they praise my work of using dowels and locking the doors from the inside.. what a day to be safe. I have no way to get in! "Do you have a garage door opener?" "Yea, it's in my stroller, inside my car.. with the keys."

Good thing Mark is on his way to the church.  We count cars and start a game, to which we all lose, but that's okay, because now I don't have to make anyone treats. HA. This is where he finds us sitting in the nice warm sunshine (great day to be locked out, thank goodness!).

Mark shows up with a smile (good!), and I start to follow him home. When I pull out of my parking spot, everyone starts to point at the ground. My first thought, did I run over a child?!?! 


No. Oh, good.

But I left my sewing machine, cutting boards, and fabric bag on the asphalt. Jodi says, "You win."

I'm going to make myself a treat tomorrow.

apple to mac daddy apple

After a week of it being in the car (thank goodness Alaska summers are only around 60º), I stopped procrastinating and took my little sweet laptop to the Mac Store (an Apple retailer - we don't have the real thing up here). We had to put it on life support, thank goodness for Apple Care! $50 total (I opted for the optional back up).

Nothing per-se is wrong with it, the screen just won't turn on... so perhaps it was just used too lovingly? But the doc said he'd get it up and running in no time. Here's to hoping!

Now who would like some apple pie?

mont-e-pants

Our new question to Mont is, "where's Jesus?" He will always point to the right place. We didn't even teach him. We just started asking him! Tessa says, "That's totally why babies can't talk! They know too much!"

She may have a point. At least, I have fun thinking so.

Hike XV and XVI: Nature Center

*phone picture - can you tell by now? I'm getting lazy!

I went to hike the Nature Center twice, back to back. Once on a Friday with my friend, Nelli (aka: my hula guru!), and the next day I went with Mark who took some stellar pictures for me with a camera that was 'not his own'. Above is from the Friday hike, and below is from the next day. We went a lot further than this, but this is the most picturesque place for a full view of the valley. I love this place! And I sure do love Mont's goofy face below:

Maybe he was thinking about his new fuzzy friend? ew..

happy hiking to YOU!

Hike XIV: South Fork Waterfall

Mont's bummin' a ride from Grandpa R. I just love that bum!

I did this one again with the family. When the Reeders came I knew this was an easy one we should all go see. The mosquitos were the worst, though! I don't remember any from the first time, but we kept batting at them the entire time and all (but Mont) got at least 2. Anyway - it was still beautiful. Gotta keep counting all these hikes!

Hike XIII: Winner Creek

Hiking with this kid is the best. Sure, he's heavy after 6 miles, but it is worth it! Watching him get so excited at new surroundings is what I love the most. When he's having a hard day, all I have to do is strap him on and take him out. He loves it and I love it. Now if only I had tied string to one of his shoes! They were my favorite electric guitar robeez... oh, I'm so sad!

I've hiked Winner Creek before, but never with 25 lbs on my back! Even still, I loved it all. Though, my shoulders were quite sore!

behind

I don't think I've ever felt 'behind' in my posting before! ... kind of hard to get started again, eh?

Ristorante 'R

While looking through all my pictures tonight from last week, I realized this was the only one I had of the three of us, and the only one that had more than 2 people in it! I hope I can see more pictures from our fun, fun week from someone else? 

This was the day after the Halibut Charter that Mark, his dad and sisters went on. It was nice having a day for them to recuperate. In the middle of the table, there is fresh zucchini from the Reeder's garden (they are expert carry-on-ers), my 'White House' salad, red salmon and halibut, and our fancy water substitute for wine (reminds me of the latter-day church!).  My, oh my, it was a tasty dinner. Mont is in the back enjoying his whole milk, cheez-its, bread, and graham crackers... I'm tough on him. 

Dig in!

ps - Mont is such a computer wiz..

Eagle River: rafted.

This is the only picture I have from our adventure today... so I'm going to do my best to briefly describe the experience in words.

We borrowed this 8 man raft from our ward (I love Alaskan wards!), and set out this morning after my amazing VTers came over to give me some spiritual nourishment. I love those ladies. Hi Steph and Stacy!

We carried this heavier-than-I-thought-it-was-gonna-be raft to the river and hopped in. Mark jumped in last (he was the rudder), and shoved off with his oar. Marty was in front, I was on the left, Molly and Mamie was on the right, and Mark in back.

The river started off super calm, so we practiced our synchronized rowing as we dodged the tree-overhangs. The river was quiet, and solitary. We didn't see houses, people, or animals. We laughed as we thought of falling over the side into the freezing river water and tried to anticipate the rapids that were at the end of the trip.

Water droplets streamed from the oars as we lifted them from the water and swung them frontwards to row again. The drops of water sounded soft and soothing, reminding me of the fountain I had just outside my bedroom window as a little girl.

As we passed our house and church, we saw 2 bald eagles in the same tree... that was all the animal-life we saw. Well, I guess we did see one weird eagle/hawk thing, and a jumping fish (a salmon, perhaps?). But that was it. Oh, and a few bearded men at the end. Okay.. they count.

Once past the bridge, the rapids began. The were seemingly small at first, and were building our excitement as I would let out yelps and screams and hollers to get the girls laughing. It had us doubled over (not a good thing as we are being shouted at to "ROW! ROW! ROW" by Mark as we try dodging trees and rocks), but it did do the trick to lessen Molly's fears. She was pretty nervous, but with my fake rumbly screams she had found humor in it instead. It was great.

We did get stuck on a few big rocks (we couldn't even see them! - they looked just like the other rapids rather than what they truly were), and went over a few submerged trees. We were glad the raft bottom was so tough and thick, as we shifted our weight and rocked back and forth until dislodging ourselves from the rocks. We really didn't want to have to swim to shore. ha!

What a day... I loved every bit of it. Even the huge splashes that had us all drenched in glacier-water and shivering in the cool rain coming down. It was absolutely beautiful, and gave me a new perspective on the valley we live in.

Still wish I had seen the bears and wolves whose tracks we had seen all over the place, though! That would have been most excellent and exciting. Don't you think??

I want to count this as a hike.... so I will. I just asked Mark if I can and he rolled his eyes and said, "suuure."

It was 7 miles rafted, and 50 yards walked with raft. One little blister under my wedding ring, and two swoll (sp?) shoulders, and 10 sore fingers. What a rush! I loved loved loved it.

hike XI: South Fork Waterfall

So I am beginning the hikes again. My goal of 50. I have only documented 10, even though I've done a few small ones since, undocumented. I have not forgotten my goal of 50. Yikes.. 

Anyway, hike 11 was South Fork Waterfall. I went with a couple girl friends of mine from the ward, and we went the easy route. I want to maintain some of my 'tough-girl' regard, so I won't explain how easy it was. But here are the pictures from my phone (Mark still had the good one packed up).

The bridge you cross runs over this roaring river. Narrow... but roaring! btw, in this picture, the water is coming towards, not away!

The waterfall... at the time of the hike, we didn't know the name of the falls, so they came up with "Wet Water Waterfalls." They didn't like my "Archibald's Waterfalls." (I think I had read something about an Archibald earlier that day)

These are the girlfriends I went with. Jodi on the left and Nicole with her boy, James on the right. My boy was sound asleep with his sleeping papa bear. I left a note and was off for a very short (and easy) hike/walk. It was great!

The only hard part was getting from the platform down to the falls.. my legs were pretty sore afterwards. Glad I didn't have my baby backpack! Mont would surely have had some bumps and bruises from tree branches we used to climb up/down with. James had a careful aunt with him to help guide his cute head around them.

Sorry about the sunny/misty glare on these. The mist was insane, and pretty refreshing. This was a look back up the wall we scaled. HA. Just kidding. We went up a trail-sorta-thing on the right of these pictures.

It was beautiful.

bad things happen to good people

(photo via Britni's blog)

A friend of mine and Mark's today messaged Mark that he had some 'bad news'.. so Mark stepped into the other room and called him quickly back.

The news was of a murder.

Is your heart beating faster? Mine too.

Our friend had us look on adn.com (Anchorage Daily News) at an article entitled: Woman Found Stabbed to Death.

She was at an activity-hike for the singles' ward with our friend, and later in the night, when people were expecting her, they went out looking.

Being the nosy person I am, I looked her up on facebook. Her pictures are that of someone who loved and lived life to the fullest- every moment.

The news article referenced her blog, so undoubtedly I had to check that out as well. All her posts have to do with thanksgiving, love of life, helping others, the beauty she sees around her, her religion, and her outlooks. She was a beautiful person, and will have great work to do now that she is on the other side.

I did not have the honor of knowing her, but a few of my friends did. Please pray for them and her family. I do not like thinking of this sweet girl's last moments on earth, alone, and more than likely, afraid. I hope she had some peace of mind thinking of her loving Father in Heaven before she slipped into the life after this.

I pray that she had comfort.

I pray that her family will now have comfort.

fleeting moments

Two days ago, the clouds came rolling back into the valley where our treehouse resides, and here they have stayed. Our once warm air has returned to the chilly air I will be sad to leave one day. While Mark is gone, Mont and I do whatever we can to fill our hours and days.

I sew, he practices his scooting slash crawling.

We play with Buckwheat.

We knock heads together and he laughs while I fight back watering eyes as he comes crashing in for another killer nose crusher.

He is one hundred and one percent boy, and I love it. Though, I would survive a little better without the nose crushing. Is it possible to slowly break a nose?

When he starts to get sleepy, I wipe off the graham cracker crumbs from his small hands using a warm washcloth I call, "the blue monster!", and then we begin our ungraceful dancing.

There is music playing most every hour in our house. But when he gets sleepy, I turn on more swirly-dirly music and lower the volume a few notches. Then I begin our twirling and side stepping.

He begins in the upright position in my arms, and ends in the supine, cradling position I won't be able to do for much longer. This is the part I especially love. The last few days he has been more of a cuddler. Not much... but ever so slightly. I can hold his hands a little more easily, and he'll nuzzle me right back.

My days are full of these sweet moments. In so many of my prayers, I can only utter statements of gratitude with a sprinkle of, "please watch over my loved ones, wherever they are."

shhh

... the pacifier is no longer an available "mute button" at church; he just keeps talking!

"bababa" 

"....ah! ...ah! ...ah!"

"wa wa wa"

"mama ma"

"oowa!"

"AARRRRGH!"

"*click *click"

"rra rra"

tarzan boy

I think in each of us, there's a little bit of Sweet:

a little bit of Happy: 

a little bit of Wild:

and a little bit of Thinker: 

TARZAN BOY! ... 

*currently his favorite song/youtube video to dance to.