::more little projects::

I had a couple of things I was working on for christmas that I had to keep secret, but now I can show them to you!
First is the project that got me crocheting in the first place.
My younger sister Charlotte loves cuttlefish.
Have you ever seen a cuttlefish?

image from here

I'm not sure if I had or not before we went to Disney World this year. Anyway, we ran across a whole tank of cuttlefish and Charlotte declared her undying love. So I knew I needed to give her one for Christmas. Then I found a really cool crochet pattern for a cuttlefish on etsy. And I knew I had to try it. So after a lot of practicing and a lot of messes I finally created a cuttlefish!!



I think he turned out really cute. I'm guessing I could make an even better one now with all my practice, but I think he turned out wonderful.
Maybe I'll try my hand at creating a sibling cuttlefish for him one of these days, maybe.
Thanks for inspiring me to start making stuff Char!

I made a little alligator for a friend's one year old a couple of weeks ago. He turned out pretty cute too.


It's fun to be able to make gifts that kids actually seem to like. And it's a good thing I have people to give these little guys to, or the house would be overrun.

Lastly here's a bird that I made in december. My mom has a traditional ornament exchange party every year, and I was thinking it would be fun to participate from afar this year. So I made this bird and sent him across the country.


Now I just need to make one for myself! At least I have the picture in case my own version never gets made.

So there are a few fun projects for you. It feels good to make stuff right now. It's so nice to have something to do with my hands that feels so productive so quickly.

::::

The last couple of years I've made a photo calendar for us through iphoto. I love these calendars. It's so fun to change the month and see what old pictures show up. Max loves it too. (He should since it's basically all about him--of course.)
Anyway, the nicest thing I've done for myself lately was to make the calendar last year go from Jan to Jan, instead of Dec to Dec. So in the midst of all the crazy things there are to do in December, I don't have to remember to make our new calendar! But of course I still haven't gotten the new one done. It's more work than it should be because I don't use iphoto much anymore, so I have to import everything I want to use. But still it's no good excuse. Maybe this time I should make the calender good through Feb...

::finished::

Check it out:

This is what I did with those cute snowflakes.
My original idea was to hang them from the ceiling of the kitchen. But I needed tons and tons to do that, because I would've wanted them thick. And the ceiling in our house is a bit low, so I was afraid Kris would be banging his head on them all the time.
And there was this perfect overhang at the window that was just begging for some fun.

So there they hang. Those two you see that look yellow aren't really that yellow. They're just kind of off white. When I realized how they looked compared to the other yarns I didn't make any more of those.

I think they're really fun. They make the winter seem just a little more festive. And you can't really tell, but most of them are made with yarn that has a little bit of a sparkle to it.
I like their silhouettes:

I got the pattern from here. They look really hard and complicated, but they're really very simple. And they're fast too, once you make one or two. I cranked out like 8 the other night when we were watching a (dumb) movie. And it's easy to improvise with them too. I came up with two other patterns based on the original that I really liked.
So try them. It's fun!!

In other news Kris has been tying a lot of fly fishing flies. He's getting good at it. He's working on flies for salt water fishies.
They're a lot bigger than the freshwater ones I'm used to seeing.
ALSO, Kris fixed my stained glass lamp. You can see it in a couple of the pictures in the beginning of this post. We got it for our wedding from some wonderful friends and I love it. One of our last moves did it in though. The post was totally broken. It wasn't of the highest quality to begin with, and four moves in four years was just too much. Anyway, Kris attempted to fix it a while back and it turned out badly--gorilla glue + fingers = bad news. But the other day he had an epiphany and fixed the dang thing with a dowel. I'm so happy to have it back! We need it out here in the winter. It's so dark and gloomy almost all of the time.
Anyway, I know my husband loves me when he solves a nearly unsolvable problem for me and doesn't give up on it.
That could light up anybody's january.

::work in progress::

::he's vintage::

We've been experimenting with different hairdos for Max. He loves it when I use the hairspray because it's the "max hold" kind.
Doesn't he look like a cute little boy from the 50s or the 60s today?

He reminds me a ton of a picture of my dad from when he was 10 or so. I wish I had it so that I could post it here.
Cuteness.

****update!
My mom just sent me a photo of my dad in kindergarten, so the same age as my Mazzles. He's so cute. See any resemblance between the two men?

::pensive::

Some of my friends out here in the web have thoughtfully picked out words or quotes to inspire them for the new year. I think this is a fun idea, though I hesitate to pick one for myself. I don't know why. Maybe I'm just not that organized. Maybe things have just been so crazy for us the last few years that each year feels kind of like ten. Maybe I just don't ever know what's going to happen next.
Anyway, my friend Megan finally pushed me over the edge and made me really think about it. She picked the word RELAX. And I really like that. In fact I was just going to go ahead and steal it from her and make it mine. But something else kept popping into my head.
It's that scripture--you know, the one in Psalms 46:10: "Be still and know that I am God." It also shows up in the Doctrine and Covenants. D&C 101:16 "let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God."

Of course what kept popping into my head was "relax and know that I am God." Not exactly accurate, but I think that's one way of interpreting those scriptures. The more I thought about it the more I realized that this scripture is really what I need to think about and remember for the next year. We have so much crazy stuff to do. We're going to be moving across the country (again). We'll be buying a business and taking it over (if all goes well). We'll have to find a new house in a new place. We'll have to find a new school for Max and go to a new ward (again).
It's all really scary. It's scary and intimidating. It makes me feel tired and frightened.

BUT. If I can think about it all in regards to the lovely scripture above then I can think about it a different way. If I can be still and know that Heavenly Father is God and that he's watching out for me then I don't have to be so scared, or maybe scared at all. I'm not the only one watching out for me and my little family.
So maybe these big big things we have to do can start to look exciting and adventurous instead of so scary.
And even the fact that we can't ultimately control what happens to us in our lives can be ok. We have divine beings watching out for us. And ultimately even if bad things happen we have hope that all will be ok and that we will be able to be together in the end.
I've just got to have faith. Relax, have faith and do the work.

One of my favorite men in the world, Jeffery R. Holland wrote the following In a wonderful article in the Ensign this month:
"Some of you may wonder: Is there any future for me? What does a new year or a new semester, a new major or a new romance, a new job or a new home hold for me? Will I be safe? Will life be sound? Can I trust in the Lord and in the future? Or would it be better to look back, to go back, to stay in the past?

To all such of every generation, I call out, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the “high priest of good things to come” (Hebrews 9:11)."
Could that be more perfect and appropriate?
He writes and speaks so well. Just listening to his words brings me comfort.

"Be still and know that I am God."
OK, I'll try. I'll try my best.
Thanks friends for making me think about all this. And thanks for reading.

::just so you know::

Sultan likes to eat snow.

A lot.

And honestly Megan, I know he looks scary, but he's only eaten a couple of people so far. No reason to fear.

***If you want to smile go to my friend Erica's blog and read this. It's hilarious. So like something that might happen to Max.

::addendum::

As an addendum to yesterday's post--Christmas cards from some of my favorite people in the world were not included on the archway of fame. This is my fault completely. See, I've been thinking I was going to take the christmas decorations down for at least the last week and a half, and so kept thinking, why put up the cards when I'm just going to take them down right away? But of course, they're all still up there.
So to make up for it we thought of a much more prestigious place to be--the TORSO OF FAME!


See, even better right? Love youguys!

::stuff::

Wow! The first post of the new year. And it's nothing particularly special. I know it's supposed to have all sorts of contemplative year-in-review sorts of things, and resolutions. But no. It's just for fun.
I just wanted to show you this:

It's our archway of fame. This is why I love Christmas cards. They're fun to send, and so much fun to receive. It was so fun to see everybody's faces and their cute kids and read about what's happening in their lives. Thanks everybody. I hate to take them down, they're so festive.
But we're taking things down. I did a bunch of cleaning up and putting away yesterday and Sultan helped:

Alright, he didn't really help, but he did keep me company, and he did fuzz up the rug so if I was bored later I could vacuum. He's thoughtful like that.

We're happy it's the new year even though we couldn't stay up late enough on New Year's Eve to watch our whole Back to the Future marathon. We only made it to midnight and halfway through the second movie before we crashed. Maybe we'll be more fun next year.

2010 here we come, there's a lot for us to do this year and a lot to look forward to. We're going to fasten our seatbelts and hold on tight!