Freezer Paper Stenciling

While we all anxiously await Trevor's post about China (he loves blogging), let me share with you about a super easy and satisfying craft.

Here's what you need:
freezer paper
x-acto knife
cardboard or cutting mat
a t-shirt (or bag or pillowcase or tablecloth...)
fabric paint
foam paint brush
a design
iron

Cut off a portion of freezer paper and place your design underneath it, so you can see your design through the freezer paper. The freezer paper should be wax-side down. Trace your design onto the freezer paper.
Use an x-acto knife to cut out your design in the freezer paper. Iron your freezer paper-stencil onto your t-shirt, again wax-side down, making sure every piece is securely stuck to the shirt.

Use fabric paint and a foam brush to fill in your stencil. Follow the instructions on the fabric paint for drying time.
Ta-da!
Now, I've never taken a class in technical writing, so those were probably the worst step-by-step instructions you've ever read. Good news, though! My good friend Kristy (who deserves all the credit for finding this craft) just blogged about it too, step-by-step instructions and all. I didn't read her post before writing this one, so it's pretty funny that there are some word-for-word similarities and the exact same pictures. :)

I highly recommend this craft. So fun and easy, and looks just like screen-printing!

Catch Up: Post 2

Oakley!

After staying in Denver for a week, I flew back to Salt Lake where my wonderful brother and sister-in-law let us spend the night. The next day, we drove to Trevor's parents' house in Oakley, Idaho to spend the week.

You know all those horrifying stories about in-laws and how hard it can be to get along with them? Well, the only horrifying thing about Trevor's family is that you might laugh so hard you forget to breathe.

My pictures from Oakley don't accurately capture the awesomeness of the week. Here are a few anyway.

My birthday: Yep, there are 25 candles on that cake. (See that red necklace? It was a surprise from Trev. He had hidden it in the trunk of the car so I could find it on my birthday. Very clever. And sweet. )
Highlights of my birthday: talking with Trev via webcam, talking with Taja on the drive to and from Twin Falls, finding pants that are long enough for me for only $20 (!), the surprise from Trev, schhhhhhhhhh! (that one's for you, Taja), the "drinking" game, a scrumptious cake, cute new earrings and a shirt from my in-laws.

We celebrated Cassie's birthday there too, and as you can see, she liked it. Especially the ribbon.
P.S. She's walking! She really got the hang of it while we were in Oakley.

Here are some goodies of Cassie with her aunt, uncle, and grandma. She was really comfortable with them.It was an awesome week. I watched at least 4 movies, made Cassie a skirt, went on a bike ride, picked flowers, jumped on the trampoline, played the piano and sang with Taja, ate delicious food, played some hilarious games with the family, and never felt like Cassie was neglected. Everyone was so helpful. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Hawkes!

Catch Up: Post 1

Sorry about the lack of posts on this blog. Trevor and I were traveling for a few weeks. I'll be catching you up in increments. Here's Post 1: Denver!

Background: Trevor decided to go to China as part of a Mega Structures course (Once in a lifetime opportunity, and only gone for two weeks! We decided we could handle two weeks apart.) I figured Cassie and I would just spend time with my parents, until they announced they would be on a cruise for the same two weeks. I didn't want to stay at home, and I had enough frequent flyer miles for a free round-trip ticket, so we flew to Denver for the first week to spend time with two of my closest friends, Kristy and Alicia. They were SO generous and took care of us very well.

We swamand playedand crafted
and playedand barbequedand playedand ateand played.
AND best of all (in my opinion), we jammed. Which I didn't get a picture of. But imagine three music-obsessed women belting out their favorite songs from musicals and playing the piano as loud as they want. Oh, it was good.

So a big thanks to Kristy and Alicia and their beautiful families for making me feel less like a single parent and for making it fun fun fun!

Good Times

It's Friday night and Trevor is on a flight to China. For two weeks. Without me. So instead of moping, I thought I'd blog. (And don't worry, I've got some fun plans for myself...look out, Kristy and Alicia!)

We spent last weekend with Trevor's family because his brother Rialey got home from his mission on Friday. The family's all together again!

Oh, the anticipation...

Still has the missionary glowSiblings

Rialey was greeted by an army of munchkins at the airport-
4 new nieces in the last 2 years!

Had to post this one- the two newest nieces showing the results of two very different diets. :)

Highlights of the trip:

Staying up WAY too late talking
Cassie's first taste of popsicle (BIG hit)
Rialey wearing a fanny pack
Family pictures (with 4 kids under the age of 2...yeah)
The boys going shooting
Holding my own in a game of lightning with the boys
Taja's senior piano recital

Did you know...

• Trevor was valedictorian of his graduating class...of 24 people.
• Emily was 5'9" in 9th grade and Trevor was 5'8" at the beginning of his senior year. Good thing we didn't know each other back then.
• In the last two months, Emily broke her pinky toe and Trevor sprained both of his ankles.
• Emily played competition soccer until she was 15.
• Trevor played basketball in high school and still loves to play.
• All of Trevor's brother's were Homecoming King. Trevor was the Quiz Bowl Captain.
• Emily took private violin, piano, and voice lessons growing up, and was the Music Sterling Scholar at her high school. (It's a Utah thing.)
• Both Trevor and Emily graduated Magna Cum Laude from BYU.
• Emily threw up in Susan Easton Black's Church history class at BYU. Sister Black's response was, "Whoa! Projectile!"
• While opening a package of ground beef from Trevor's parents, Emily asked, "Did your dad hunt this?"
• Trevor has glasses, allergies to most farm animals and many plants, and had braces growing up- twice. Emily has perfect eyesight, no allergies, and never had braces. I guess someone got all the good genes.
• Trevor was an officer in his student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers at BYU.
• Trevor served an LDS mission in Recife, Brazil.
• Emily loves musicals. Her top favorites are Wicked, Ragtime, and Aida.
• Emily sang in Women's Chorus and Concert Choir at BYU.
• After hanging out at Emily's apartment one night, months before we started dating, Trevor commented to his roommate, "How is someone like Emily not married?"

Lil' Cass

Here are some tidbits about the wee one that brings so much excitement to our lives:

Name: CassidyOccupation: ExplorerTalents: Pulling all the DVDs and books off the shelf, composing original music on the piano, recognizing words my parents say (ear, pictures, outside, Daddy, etc.), putting foreign objects in my mouth before anyone can stop me, standing up all by myself, taking a few steps to my parents' arms, saying "Dada" (and knowing what it means!), waving bye-bye, and turning the pages in my books.
Favorites:

• Book: Animal Sounds (when Daddy reads it)
• Place: Outside. No matter the weather.
• Food: Banana
• Person: Mommy
• Friend: Carson
• Toy: Dad's watch
• Activity: Dancing to groovy tunes

P.S. I found this nifty wind-up toy at Grandma's.

Hey! What's up?

I spent last Thursday in my old bedroom at my parents house cleaning out the closet. I found some gems (pictures, stuffed animals, books I wrote in 3rd grade, etc.) that I'm pretty glad I kept. Most notably, I found a shoe box stuffed full of notes written to me in junior high school. I just finished reading them and discovered a lot in the process:

"Hey! What's up?" is the right way to greet people.

I'm still friends with some of those people! We're all a lot more mature now, but some of the good qualities that were obvious in those notes are still obvious today. Andrea and Camille, most of the notes were from you. Okay, most of the notes were from Steve.... My favorite notes were from Kristy (must have been written sophomore year of high school, since we didn't attend the same junior high). She was so mature and level-headed.

We liked a different boy every other week, and usually liked more than one at a time. How confusing. Who, by the way, is "Adam?" Can't remember him for the life of me.

None of us were quite sure what we wanted. It was exciting to have the boy you liked like you back...but was it wrong to "go out?" And holding hands seemed like a good thing to do if you were "going out," except when you felt embarrassed because a teacher saw you or ashamed because you weren't sure what you were doing was right. From what I can tell in the notes, we all waffled back and forth a lot.

Note folding is an art.

I want my children to understand what truly brings us happiness: living righteously and selflessly.

Even after teaching middle school for two years, I don't know if texting has replaced note-writing. My students left their backpacks on the side of the room during choir, so there was no opportunity for writing notes. Plenty of opportunity for texting, though...

I wish I had kept a better journal back then. I want to remember what my thoughts and feelings were. Ten years from now, I'll probably feel the same way, so I need to be a more consistent journal writer. Any advice from you journal-keeping experts? (Kristy?)