This kid can't get any more adorable

2 rules of bookbinding

Rule number One: Always know where your glue is. Glue is like poo. If you are not careful, it can be all over the place very quickly. If you have ever changed a squirmy toddler with a poopy diaper you know what I am talking about.

Rule number Two: Think before you cut. I broke rule number two. In a very bad way.

Look closely. See that black line? That is not suppose to be there. In fact that line is actually a cut that goes down about 3 more pages. In a moment of distraction I tried to use my scalpel blade and listen to my teacher at the same time. That is not good.



All this beautiful work on my spine is now not worthy to be turned in for a grade.




And this little part, the headband. That makes me the sickest. That was extremely difficult to sew and now I gotta start all over again.

Getting ready for Spring

I have been working hard in our yard this past summer. The last project I wanted to finish before the snow flies was my garden area. I really missed not having a garden this past year and I am bound and determined to have my peas planted come March of next year. Doesn't that sound light years away? Scott made my garden boxes and I leveled the ground, put landscape fabric down and spread the rocks. My arms and legs have gotten quite the workout the past few days. I am ready!

Coptic Binding

Here are my first books. When my teacher showed us the different types of bindings we would be learning in the class I was really drawn toward this one. With the sewn spine it definitely says hand made. I really like how these books look.

Since I am a nerd and since I am taking this class for fun, unlike all of the other unlucky students in the class who have loads of other classes, I decided to do 2 coptic books. One with paper and one with fabric. One with cut edges and one torn. One with eyelets and one without. Yes I am a nerd.

This is technically my first, guinea pig book. It is made with fabric and eyelets.



On the inside of the cover I used some of my handmade paper.



This one is my favorite of the 2 and will be the one that I turn in for a grade. I really thought that I would like the red one best, but not so. This one is also made with my handmade paper. And technically it is made better and the stitching is tighter than my red one. A little practice helps a lot!



Inside



The spine



Now I must go make more so I don't forget the tricky stitching!

Bennett & The Blue Bombers

Let's not forget Bennett. He has been tearing up the field this season in flag football. A game where going the right way is optional, throwing grass at each other is funner than getting the ball, playing with and taking off your own flag is much more interesting than pulling off your opponents. As his coach would say "It is like herding cats." It makes for very amusing Saturday mornings!

A job I dislike

I love just about everything that has to do with fall. The smells, colors, sights and cooler weather are just wonderful. But there is one thing that I dread doing and I usually put it off until the last minute. It is the swapping out of summer clothes to winter clothes. I dislike it for a number of reasons.

I like to think that I am a relatively organized person. I have big tubs full of clothes that have been neatly folded and placed according to size. I have them labeled so that it is easy to locate the correct sizes and do an easy swap. Unfortunately it doesn't work this way.

First of all each brand of clothing has their own sizes. It is not uncommon to have 2 shirts labeled 5T and in actuality one of them would fit Bennett and one would fit Owen. So then I am in a quandary as to where to put the shirt. Do I put it in the 5T box even though it fits a 4 year old? When I decide that I should put it in the box that I think is the right size regardless of what the tag says then undoubtedly the next season I am wondering what idiot put all the wrong sizes in the box and I end up re-sorting them over and over.

And then what do you do with shirts that can't commit to just one size. Where do I put a shirt that is labeled 4T/5T when I have a box for 3T/4T and one for 5T/6T. I don't know. To top it off, there are always a handful of shirts that completely reject the number sizes and just have s,m,l for their size. Well who do these shirts fit and what box should they go in?

Then what do you do when you have kids that wear different sizes and these sizes have no correlation whatsoever to the tag. Taylor is tall and has to wear slim pants. He cannot fit into regular pants. Bennett wears regular size pants and Owen wear regulars but Owen usually wears a larger shirt. So if I have a shirt that is labeled 5T but I think is small for its size and Owen is age 4, but usually wears a size larger than his age, what the heck do I put him in and in which box would it be located? I have no idea.

While I am sorting without fail I will try and figure out where certain clothes have gone. How is it even possible that Owen can have 10 winter shirts that he fits into and no jeans. He has 2 older brothers. What did they wear when they were his age and where did they go? And why on earth can I only find one decent long sleeved church shirt for Bennett. I know Taylor did not go naked to church. What did he wear and where did it go? You can't tell me that we have no 12 mo. pants for Chasey. I know we have some. Where did they go?

Can you see how this is frustrating for someone who is trying to stay organized? With 4 boys and at least 8 sizes I am dealing with it gets chaotic. I have piles in every size for 2 different seasons, ones that are going back in the tubs and ones that are coming out. I usually end of having each boy try on a variety of sizes to see what fits. Then the rest of the clothes get shoved into a box, very unorganized like until the next season. Then it starts all over again. I am glad I am done until spring.

Our Day

We took a drive up American Fork canyon yesterday to look at this



and most definitely this



We ended up here



There was a whole lot of this going on



We decided to jump on the bandwagon

This kid is handsome so I snapped this



Owen just looked like he wanted his picture taken so I took this



We tried to figure out what animal was digging these all over the place



Scott took this



I don't know what photo trickery happened here, but I shot this



In between the leaf lookin' and picture takin' we did this



and this



Then Owen wanted to get behind the camera and decided to take this



And one of the kiddos requested a kissing photo. So we obliged. Isn't that a lovely view of my neck? Is is my best feature you know.



We did a little bit of this



On our way back up the trail the boys decided that Chasey needed a photo shoot. So Owen took this



And then I couldn't resist a pix with all of my handsome men so I took this



At the end out our day we enjoyed these


The end