Abundant Recompense Copy

Life is just so crazy, ya know? I remember scoffing internally in college when one of my professors informed our class that life was just going to continue getting busier and busier. That week I had class one day nonstop from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.. Well, now that I'm old and wise, it turns out he was right. Now it's just impossible to do everything, basically. Nate and I still see each other occasionally. Usually at about 9:30 at night once dishes are done and kids are down. We usually eat junk, look at facebook side by side, and go to bed. Quality time. We were in desperate need of a little respite from the grind, and some real together alone time. So Nate hatched a plan to do a little adventure, just the two of us. It wouldn't have happened if his mama wasn't such a saintly woman. She took all our kids from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. one day while we were in St. George over Easter weekend. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It was so wonderful to get out and spend time together...

Starting out. None of us, our southern Utah native included, have ever hiked in Kolob. It's a little ridiculous. It's closer to St. George than Zion proper, and the scenery there is amazing without the Zion crowds. We did three miles on the Taylor Creek Trail! A new distance record for our family! I tried not to make too big of a deal out of it at the time because I think that would've caused Nate to pencil in a 6-day backpacking trip on our summer agenda right then and there. But I'll say it now, I'm impressed with us. The children were troopers, especially little Leah, who hiked almost the entire thing without being carried!  Addison was "Addison-bot" for the first half mile or so. We love it when Grandpa can come along! It was fun to follow the stream's twists and turns. We crossed it 12 times in each direction. We had snack breaks and the kids played a little hide and seek. At one point I needed to nurse Asa, so I found a nice secluded place with a...

I love sewing. More than sewing, I love sewing quilts. There's something magical about starting with a giant mountain of folded pieces of fabric and a few spools of thread, and turning it into one big piece. And as a bonus, it just has to be a rectangle. No cinching up the waist or letting out the armholes, just a big fat rectangle with only straight-line seams. I started on Leah's quilt when I was expecting Asa. It got me through a long pregnancy and year one of four kids. Sometimes I worked on it every day. Other times I worked on it every other month or so. I'm pleased with the result and so excited that it's done and on the bed!   I used lots of scraps, but also took the kids to Joann with me one day and let them pick whatever fat quarters they wanted. We got about twenty that day, and it was a total blast. They picked stuff I would've never touched, but they loved helping, and it all looks so pretty together! Addison and Bryn also helped lay out the cut squares...